Ta-Nehisi Coates and Other Influencial Writers

Drew Holt

David Mislin

IH 0951

11.15.2016

Essay 3

        In his lecture, Ta-Nehisi Coates expanded upon his novel, Between the World and Me, to describe the plunder that blacks have experienced and are experiencing in America. Listening to Coates speak, it was clear that he meant every word in his book and his passion made those words all the more real. Throughout American history, the plunder of blacks has been a constant theme. For hundreds of years, blacks have been beaten down both figuratively and literally by “white” America and Ta-Nehisi Coates, like many other authors, used written and spoken word to bring light to these wrongs.

        Defined formally, plunder is the violent and dishonest acquisition of property. To really explain the plunder that blacks have endured in America, Coates starts from the very beginning. In 1619 blacks arrived in America as part of a servant class, where they were owned on contracts, but became free after several years of work. Soon, however, these contracts transformed temporary servants into permanent slaves. In need of a reason for slavery, the property owners used race. This justification is similar to what Coates talked about in his book when saying “race is the child of racism, not the father” (Coates 7). It was not that whites truly hated blacks or that the possession of light skin made them better, but a line was drawn where blacks were servants and whites were masters. Once that line was drawn, the lives of blacks in America got worse and worse. Laws were passed prohibiting blacks from learning to read, leaving plantation without permission, and bearing arms to name a few. All of the livestock and property of blacks were sold to benefit the poor whites. All of these acts laid the foundation for the plunder of blacks, but also laid the foundation of America.

        Coates made it clear that, although slavery is sometimes considered a mistake made by America, it was in fact the basis of American success. He said that “slavery was not a bump in the road, it was the road.” In 1840, 59% of the country’s exports were cotton, which was almost entirely picked by the 4 million slaves on plantations. This huge source of free labor is what allowed the country to advance. On average, slaves were sold for around 900 dollars making the entire workforce worth more than 3.5 billion dollars. Slaves were worth more than all of the other assets of America combined. Without slavery, America would never have become the prosperous nation it is today. The blacks were beaten down so that the whites could have their power and wealth. Coates stressed the importance of recognizing this part of American history. Some people will try to brush it off and downplay it, but Coates described it best in saying, “you can’t take an a la carte approach to history.”